Under the spotlight and in front of a packed audience, students from six grade levels came together to deliver an outstanding performance. With this cast of talented students and a hard working crew, the all-school play “Rotten Apples” was ready to take the stage.
“The script was about a ton of fairy tale villains that get an invitation to meet up at a castle and someone dies and they all try to figure out who the murder is,” junior Lexi Bisaillon, who played Rumpelstiltskin, said.
Junior Bella Sliva, who played Red, enjoyed the play because of the complexity of the script.
“When we first got the script, it seemed really long and seemed hard to try and memorize,” Sliva said. “ But I think the more we practiced, the easier it got to memorize and understand.”
Drama director Matthew Gunter explained that putting on this play required intense preparation, late nights and unwavering commitment from every student involved.
“We had practices Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 5:30 to 8 and even sometimes 8:30,” Gunter said. “So a lot of practice time and I know they would run over lines on their own time.”
The play featured grades 6-12, which is much different from other activities because it includes high school, junior high and elementary students.
“There were many different grade levels in the play, which I think helped really bring the play to life,” Bisaillon said. “The different ages made it seem very real.”
There were 19 students who had individual roles along with 8 others who were part of the ensemble, and then there were 11 crew members that helped behind the scenes and were in charge of the set designs and sound cues.
“We spent a lot of time painting the set and figuring out where everything was supposed to go,” stage manager senior Reagan Wilson said. “It was stressful at first, but when we saw everything come together, it was worth it.”
The performance became more meaningful when the cast found out that the director would be leaving for another job at the end of the school year.
“I feel like it’s more special this year since this is the last show we will have Mr. Gunter being the director of,” Wilson said. “So I feel like this show was even more special to everyone than other ones.”
The cast performed three public shows, with the first one being at the elementary school.
“The show we performed at the elementary was also our first show, so it was a little choppy because it was our first full run-through in front of an actual audience. We did better than we expected, and the elementary kids and teachers loved it,” Bisaillon said. “Doing it in front of the kids who constantly laughed really helped build up the confidence of our cast.”
By the final show, the nerves had gone away and the cast and crew were ready to show their hard work in one last performance.
“The final show went really well for us,” freshman Kaydi Ward, who played Stepmother, said. “We all did our part in the play, and I felt really good about it afterwards. I am super excited for it next year.”
